Kindle Fire sparks lawmaker privacy worries

Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet has Rep. Ed Markey alarmed that the company is amassing too much information about its users.

The Massachusetts Democrat sent a letter to Amazon on Friday, asking CEO Jeff Bezos to reveal more about the kind of data the company collects from tablet owners and how it is used. The letter is in response to recent reports about the Kindle Fire's Web browser, called Silk, which loads pages through Amazon's servers before delivering them to the user.

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The system is supposed to speed up Web browsing, Amazon told The New York Times and others. But to privacy hawks, it also grants Amazon much greater access to users' browsing habits.

Markey wrote in the letter that he wants to know whether the new data will be combined with Amazon's existing knowledge about its consumers. He asked Bezos whether that will "enable Amazon to collect and utilize an extraordinary amount of information about its users' surfing and buying habits."

"By coupling the Fire with Silk, Amazon can essentially track every Web click of its customers," Markey wrote, referencing the NYT story about the browser's privacy implications. "Amazon will know where people shop, what items they buy, when they buy them and how much they pay."

Markey also asked the company a series of questions about the information Amazon plans to collect from users of the Kindle Fire, as well as how it will be used and whether it will be shared with third parties. He further inquired about Amazon's notice to consumers about the browser and its functionality and about whether there is an opt in program.

Markey is seeking those answers by Nov. 4.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:40 p.m. on October 14, 2011.